Links roundup

Single Subway Car Enjoys Relaxing Long Weekend Upstate [Gothamist]

Public finance and corporate governance 

• Governments Rethink Their ‘Moral Obligation’ to Municipal Bondholders: “When a government defaults on debt, it’s usually because it can’t afford the payment — not because it doesn’t want to make the payment. But that’s changing.”  [Governing]
• Private philanthropy isn’t a viable funding source for affordable housing and infrastructure needs [Crosscut]
• Reshaping the Corporation to Avoid the Dangers of Perpetual Life [NPQ]
• Lessons for the U.S.: How the EU Controls Bidding Wars for Jobs and Investment [Shelterforce]
• Coordinating commissions have fallen out of favor. It’s time to bring them back. [Governing]

Free speech restrictions?

• A women’s sex toy company is suing the New York MTA for refusing to allow its advertisements, even though the subway has accepted ads for erectile dysfunction, condoms, and inflatable plastic breasts. These advertising practices amount to arbitrary and illegal censorship and violate the First Amendment, Dame Products claims, but the MTA says that banning ads for sex toys is a reasonable content-based policy. [Reuters] [NYTimes]
• Somewhat related: An Enduring Subway Mystery: The DIY Keano Spiritual Consultant Ads [Gothamist]
• The Minneapolis Public Housing Authority has been pursuing an “aggressive public relations strategy” in connection with its new Rental Assistance Demonstration program, hoping to get reporters to call it “restructuring” rather than “privatization.” At least one news story was abandoned due to this aggressive PR policy, but the authority still maintains that its intent wasn’t “to shut down total coverage.” [Columbia Journalism Review]

Economic development and transportation

• Supreme Court to Hear New Jersey ‘Bridgegate’ Appeal [NYTimes]
• How Subway Delays and the Homeless Crisis Are Intertwined [NYTimes]
• A story about the Mississippi Development Authority and its plan to revitalize a small town by capitalizing on its (debatable) connection to the murder of Emmett Till [The Conversation]
• Florida Universities Have Turned Athletics Departments Into Quasi-Private Arms. What Does That Mean for Public Accountability? [The Chronicle of Higher Education]
• Editorial: TIFs were abused. Time for a new approach to city investment [Chicago Tribune]
• How to Fund Land Banks [Shelterforce]